How Did the Arabica Coffee Bean Reach Colombia?

Colombian coffee traces back to the early 18th century, when coffee seeds and seedlings arrived with Spanish Jesuit missionaries. A missionary named José Gumilla recorded coffee plantations along the Orinoco River in 1730, suggesting cultivation began before that date. Colombia now ranks second to Brazil in Arabica coffee bean production, and its industry is built largely on small farms rather than large estates.

The classic Colombian profile pairs dark chocolate notes with soft fruit acidity, a style many long-time drinkers prefer over fruit-forward coffees. Producers work with established varieties and newer ones, plus washed and experimental processing. Regional conditions across the country's coffee farms shape differences in body, sweetness and acidity, and grading systems sort lots by quality and altitude.

As a major global Arabica coffee producer, Colombia's coffee industry has developed over centuries into a unique landscape dominated by small farms. From coffee's introduction in the early 18th century, to the founding of FNC, and now to innovative varieties and processing methods in the specialty coffee wave, Colombian coffee consistently showcases the classic flavors of dark chocolate and soft fruit acidity. Front Street Coffee's everyday beans series allows beginners to experience the true taste of the region at an affordable price, while Finca El Paraiso's Sakura coffee beans represent contemporary Colombia's cutting-edge exploration in varieties and fermentation techniques. This article will guide you through Colombia's coffee history, variety stories, flavor characteristics, and grading classification, and share Front Street Coffee's brewing recommendations.

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Coffee has long been integrated into people's daily lives. When picking up a cup in the morning that combines acidity, sweetness, bitterness, and astringency, more and more drinkers are beginning to notice that coffees from different origins have distinct flavors. Brazilian coffee is known for being soft and smooth, Ethiopian coffee has bright acidity, and Indonesian coffee is low in acidity and full-bodied. Front Street Coffee has encountered many older coffee enthusiasts who, compared to today's popular fruit-bomb-style flavors, prefer classic Colombian coffee with dark chocolate notes.

Colombian Coffee History

Although Colombia's land area is not particularly large, it is truly a major coffee-producing country, with Arabica coffee bean production second only to its neighbor Brazil. However, like many American coffee-producing countries, before Europeans arrived on this land, coffee—originally from Ethiopia—had not taken root here.

It is said that coffee cultivation in Colombia can be traced back to the early 18th century, when coffee seeds or seedlings arrived on this land aboard the ships of Spanish Jesuit missionaries. A Spanish missionary named José Gumilla explicitly wrote in his book recording the Orinoco River that he personally saw coffee plantations along the river in 1730. This indirectly indicates that Colombia had already begun cultivating coffee before 1730.

As coffee cultivation continued to expand, coffee became Colombia's main foreign exchange export product by the end of the 19th century. However, the four-year "Thousand Days' War" dealt a heavy blow to Colombia, causing a sharp population decline, abandoned land, and stagnant economic development. Many large coffee plantations could no longer sustain themselves and even became neglected wastelands. To save the coffee industry, the Colombian government consolidated the wastelands and divided them into small planting units, selling them at extremely low prices to landless farmers, who could grow coffee and other crops together on these lands.

Colombian National Federation of Coffee Growers

Colombia's industry structure dominated by small coffee farms is regarded as a new and flexible industrial model. Against the backdrop of international coffee price fluctuations, Colombian coffee has shown tremendous growth potential. However, at that time, it did not occupy an important position in the global market.

To change this situation, Colombian coffee growers organized and established the "Coffee Producers Organization" in 1904 to manage the domestic market. By 1920, a coffee grower took the lead in promoting the establishment of the Colombian Coffee Federation to protect the interests of numerous small coffee farms. This organization subsequently grew stronger and, in 1927, formally established a more authoritative and larger-scale organization — FNC.

FNC was founded to protect the interests of coffee growers. In the years that followed, with FNC's assistance, Colombia as a coffee-producing country became the world's third-largest coffee exporter. As one of the classic coffee-producing countries, Colombia not only occupies a unique area on Front Street Coffee's bean list of over fifty coffee beans, but has also been included in Front Street Coffee's everyday beans series.

Front Street Coffee's everyday beans series covers seven classic coffee-producing regions. Although they do not come from famous coffee estates, they allow coffee novices to taste the main flavors of major producing regions at an affordable price, and thereby understand their own preferences.

After multiple cupping comparisons of various coffee beans of different varieties, processing methods, and origins, Front Street found that washed coffee beans better express a region's main flavors, while sun-dried coffee beans have stronger aroma and sweetness on top of the washed base. Therefore, Front Street Coffee's everyday beans series basically adopts the washed processing method to showcase the most basic flavors of the producing region. One of Front Street Coffee's Colombian everyday beans comes from the renowned Huila region, where washed processing fully reveals its original terroir, presenting rich dark chocolate flavors with soft fruit acidity.

In addition to the more traditional chocolate-flavored Colombian coffee, Front Street Coffee is also very attuned to the current popular fourth wave of specialty coffee. More and more coffee enthusiasts not only pay attention to fruit-bomb-flavored coffee beans, but also have a deeper understanding of coffee varieties and green bean post-processing methods. Among them, Colombian Finca El Paraiso coffee beans have attracted much attention because Luckin Coffee used them to launch an SOE series. Finca El Paraiso As one of the well-known coffee estates in Colombia, it has long been available on Front Street Coffee's bean shelves.

Finca El Paraiso comes from the Cauca region, which is a Colombian origin-certified coffee-producing region with an average altitude exceeding 1,700 meters, reaching up to 2,100 meters. Front Street Coffee has coffee beans from numerous origins and countless varieties, and the reason Front Street favors this region is that its temperature difference between day and night is greater than other regions, the coffee cherries take longer to grow, and after absorbing more soil nutrients, Cauca coffee achieves a superior balance of acidity and sweetness.

Finca El Paraiso's owner, Diego Samuel, studied coffee-related knowledge during university, and in 2008 began taking over this estate kissed by sea breezes, diligently managing this one-of-a-kind land. In 2015, Finca El Paraiso topped the local coffee cupping competition, which further inspired the owner's passion for coffee cultivation and technological innovation.

With firm conviction, Diego led Finca El Paraiso to win numerous awards, engraving the estate's name on one competition podium after another, making it famous. Diego continuously innovates and improves on the path to enhancing and stabilizing coffee bean quality. Today, Finca El Paraiso cultivates coffee varieties such as Bourbon, Laurina, Geisha, and Castillo, and is still planning to try more different varieties.

One of the Finca El Paraiso coffee beans Front Street acquired is named Sakura, a Castillo variety, processed using the double anaerobic washed method. The whole coffee cherries first undergo one round of anaerobic fermentation, then the pulp and skin are removed, and the second round of anaerobic fermentation takes place with the sticky mucilage layer still on. After fermentation is complete, washing is carried out, and after the mucilage layer is safely cleaned off, sun-drying follows.

Front Street Colombian Finca El Paraiso Sakura Coffee Beans

Region: Cauca, Colombia

Estate: Finca El Paraiso

Altitude: 2,050 meters

Variety: Castillo

Processing Method: Double Anaerobic Washed

After cupping this Colombian Sakura coffee bean, Front Street found that through this processing method, the coffee's flavor is more full-bodied, with rich fruity sweetness and fermented notes, and a thicker mouthfeel. To highlight this coffee bean's unique sweetness and give it a thicker mouthfeel, Front Street Coffee's roaster adopted a medium roast level when creating the roasting curve.

When brewing this coffee bean, Front Street recommends the following parameters:

Dripper: Hario V60

Water Temperature: 90°C

Coffee Dose: 15 grams

Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15

Grind Size: 80% passing through China Standard No. 20 sieve

Front Street Coffee ships coffee beans freshly roasted within 5 days. After roasting, the coffee beans contain abundant carbon dioxide gas, which during brewing inhibits hot water from entering the internal structure and extracting flavor compounds. Therefore, Front Street recommends blooming during brewing to promote gas release. The blooming time is generally controlled at around 30 seconds, with the specific timing depending on the state of the bloom "hamburger." If the "hamburger" does not visibly puff up or collapses, the blooming time can be appropriately shortened; and vice versa.

First pour 30 grams of hot water for a 30-second bloom, then pour from the center point with a fine stream and slowly spiral out to 125 grams. When the water level in the dripper drops to the point where the coffee bed is about to be exposed, continue spiraling to pour up to 225 grams. The total extraction time is approximately 2 minutes.

The Sakura coffee produced by Front Street Coffee using the above extraction recommendations has aromas of basil and rosemary on entry, with a hint of strawberry jam in the aftertaste.

Some friends are curious why Front Street's coffee bean is called Sakura but doesn't taste like cherry blossoms. This is because when Finca El Paraiso's owner named this coffee bean, he smelled a faint aroma that reminded him of cherry blossoms. However, coffee ultimately reaches consumers as roasted beans, and after Front Street Coffee's careful roasting, the coffee bean's aroma presents a different expression, hence the special spice aromas like basil and rosemary.

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.